481THz over the horizon test: no success tonight

Weather this evening was not suitable for the tests, although I did try. I set up the QRSS3 beacon pointing out of my bedroom window using the local windmill as the aiming point. This is on the top of our small hill which rises about 15m. I then drove to a spot 3.6km away over the hill to look for the signal with my sensitive RX and 100mm optics using Spectran to display the trace. Unfortunately this time the slight drizzle and murk was just too bad and no signal was copied, although I've had good results in the past at a very similar spot.

In daylight I need to recheck my beam alignment at the RX location as it was sufficiently murky to not see the local landmarks used to help aim the RX last time. Despite panning across 45 degrees of aim nothing at all was copied of my signal. I shall repeat the test in better optical conditions.

For those interested, the 1W 10mm diodes are available from http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350347623711.  You get 10 pieces for £9.26 with free postage and they are very BRIGHT.